1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an exercise apparatus to which most bicycles may be attached for indoor training and conditioning of cyclists.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Devices for holding a bicycle upright in a stationary position for use indoors as exercise apparatus are well known in the art. Most such devices provide a means for applying adjustable resistance to one of the wheels of the bicycle in order to increase the force required to pedal and thereby obtain more stressful exercise. The majority of such devices, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,898 issued to McLerran, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,666 issued to Michael Rodriqguez, and U.S. Pat. No. 584,989 issued to Isaac Davis, each disclose a method for increasing the resistance to rotation of the rear tire of the bicycle. These methods include, respectively, changing the length of the moment arm when the bicycle tire is applied to a vertical rotatable disk, increasing or decreasing the force of a brake mechanism applied to a roller on which the bicycle rides and adding weight to the rotating platform. Each of these exercise devices require the operator to dismount from the bicycle to make the adjustment to the resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,651 issued Georges Defaux discloses a device that has a handle located near the pedals that must be rotated to increase the upward force of the rollers against the tires. This device requires the cyclist to disengage at least one hand from the handle bars to make such an adjustment. Cyclists, when training indoors desire to simulate the actions of riding a bicycle outdoors as closely as possible. These prior designs did not address the dynamic changes in work loads required by the cyclist, nor did those using a rotating platform address the excessive tire wear and noise produced by the friction at the tire contact surface due to the changing radius which produces an "S" shaped resistance at the turntables and tire interface.
Therefore, notwithstanding the existence of such prior art, it remains clear that there is a need for an exercise apparatus that is to be used with a bicycle that permits the rider to sit upon the bicycle and have total variability of work loads during training without having to dismount or remove his or her hands from the handle bars to change the resistance. There is also a need to reduce the tire wear and noise created by many of the prior art devices.